


Me and Forever

by DoughnutLover



Series: Hardly Consistent [1]
Category: Lego Ninjago, The LEGO Ninjago Movie (2017)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-12
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-16 20:48:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28713036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoughnutLover/pseuds/DoughnutLover
Summary: "Maybe I shouldn't be allowed to think about these kinds of things anymore.""Incorrect, it is these questions that lead us to deeper conclusions of self-discovery and-""TLDR, Zane, Lloyd's grounded and his punishment is being nicknamed 'Sweet-Cake' for a year."One-Shot.
Relationships: Lloyd Garmadon & Zane
Series: Hardly Consistent [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2106372
Kudos: 36





	Me and Forever

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! So I wrote this out of both boredom, and not knowing how to proceed with my other fic at the moment. So while you guys wait however long for that, here's a more feel-sy Zane and Lloyd fic. Plus, more interactions between best boy and Sweet-Cake are always a good thing, too, so hopefully you enjoy!

Am I immortal? 

I mean, it’s a more reasonable conclusion for me than any other person. My Grandfather was, he only ever passed because he decided to. Both my uncle and dad are. One time I asked my uncle, Wu, and he said something to the effect that death is something he and my father could choose, but just don’t. Asking dad was pointless, he just pretended not to know who I am and said I was “too skinny to be my fat little son.” For the record, I was never fat. In fact, being homeless and malnourished at 10 is probably why I’m stuck at 5’5”. 

In any case-- that question should have been so easy to answer. People are born, they grow up, and eventually, they pass on. So I asked mom. She seemed less on board with the idea of her son never-dying than I think is healthy for any mother. 

“Oh! I’m not sure, honey. Hopefully not, mortality is a gift, it allows one to grow and change and become something truly beautiful.” like, I can get how that seems wise, but Misako has that special ability to make the most morbid things sound poetic and knowledgeable. Here, let me translate what she said, keeping in mind she didn’t so much as glance from her scrolls to say this: 

“Son, we all die, deal with it.” 

Best mom ever, am I right? Well, after that embarrassment, I went to the last group of people who might even speak to me. The art club at my school. When I walked through that door for the first time a few months ago, well, let's just say they weren’t exactly on board with me being around. But I needed somewhere to go after last class, and after pleading with them not to kick me out I was given my very own corner. It took me two weeks of behaving myself for someone to approach and inspect my latest drawing. 

_ “Wow! You draw really well.” the larger male had approached me, apron covered in paint almost as much as his hands. He seemed more relaxed, though still somewhat kept his distance. “How long have you been drawing?”  _

_ “Erm… f-five years.”  _

_ “Where do you get inspiration?”  _

_ “W-well… I used to tr-travel a lot. Th-this ones of the c-city Stiix.”  _

We spoke for about half an hour after that, him prodding about my travels, me just being shocked anyone even talked to me. After my stint ‘traveling’ the land I had gained a reputation of being ‘wild’ and ‘murderous.’ Bullies loved me. Hated, weak, and easy to catch? Every Nelson’s dream nerd. In any case- Cole, that’s his name, began talking to me for a few days. Not long after that so did his other friends. 

There was Jay, described most aptly in three words: rambling, soft, and honest. After him came Zane, slower to trust but oddly wise and definitely calmer than any of us. Last was the amber-eyed duo known plainly as ‘The Smiths.’ Get it? Because their dad was a blacksmith? It's fine, I laughed too. Oh but maybe don’t upset them, because if Jay gets three words, they get twice that: The best people I’ve ever met. 

“Lloyd!” the whole group exclaimed when I entered the club-room. As per usual it had only taken a few minutes for chaos to ensue, and judging by the way they were all looking at me, this one had been an argument. 

“Alright lil’ bro. We need you to settle something.” Kai had wrapped an arm around my shoulders, walking me to my usual table. He must’ve been sculpting, seeing as he reeked of clay and sealant. “Who’s the better singer, me, or Jay?” 

“Uhm…” I looked between the two of them, Kai smirking confidently, arm around my shoulder while Jay put on his best puppy face. I must’ve started blushing because Cole intervened for me. 

As calm as ever he told Kai that I was flustered-- and that astute observation earned Cole an A+. The brown-haired fiend, ever crafty, winked at me before going to pursue his life’s ambition- flirting relentlessly with Cole any time he so much as acknowledged Kai’s existence. Nya, Kai’s sister, had told me there was no shame in crushing on Cole, saying they had all done it at one point or another. She did always uphold that Kai’s ‘feelings’ were less about a crush, and more just him being an oddball. 

Still thoroughly lost, I decided that trying to draw would be better than proposing my moral quandaries while Nya and Jay fought Kai off Cole for the third time in a week. Recently I had been working on a sketch of Torch-Fire Mountain and the ruins of its Great Dragon Temple. All that was left were two walls, the front gate, and some statues of gold-plated dragons. That had also been the place my uncle first found me again, sleeping against one of the crumbled walls. 

As much as I try not to think about when I was eight that time always comes back. Even twice that time later I can still remember the shouting, the deep dread that had driven me from that horrible old school. Two years I had been left to my own devices. All I did was walk from small village to small village, taking food where I could, begging when I couldn’t. Some of them had been kind, offering me a blanket and some bread. Others saw my ghoulish red eyes and fangs, marked me up as a demon, and left me alone until I wandered off again. 

Uncle Wu had caught me between villages. For all that he’s incredibly smart, I don’t think he knew who I was until I bit him- which before you say anything, he was an older man sneaking up on a kid, even a ten-year-old knew that was suspicious as all get out! Though when I went to take a chunk out of his arm Wu just laughed. Apparently, he had done the same thing to his father on more than one occasion until he lost a fang to it. As a side note, they grow back quickly, I’ve lost both of mine three and five times each. 

“Is that one you?” I jumped a bit when Zane spoke, noting that somehow he had walked right in front of me, pulled out a chair, and sat down to look at my drawing- all without me noticing. 

“Y-yeah! This was wh-when I was ten.” Zane gave me an odd look, almost like he had just seen me for the first time. 

“I am sorry if this is intrusive, but are you missing a fang?” See. Five times the right one has been knocked out, though it’ll be back in a week. I made sure to tell Zane as much. 

“Very well. However, compassion dictates that I inquire as to how you lost a tooth. I completely understand if you cannot disclose the reason, but I would very much appreciate it if you told me.” 

“Ha… a-about that. Some k-kid shoved me this m-morning, and so-somehow I knocked it out. B-but hey! Zane, you're the sm-smartest person I know! C-can I ask you something?” 

When he said yes, I let loose about my question. As quickly as I could I explained myself, telling him who my grandfather was, and how my dad and uncle have been alive for thousands of years. I might have also let loose this pet theory of mine that my mom is older than she lets on. Like, hundreds of years older. To Zane’s credit, he took all of that in stride, smiling gently at me as I finished explaining the confusing mess that was my pedigree. 

“Lloyd. What you have suggested may just be true, however, have you considered that you might be incredibly long-lived?” I rubbed the back of my neck, nodding. “Plus, what would you do if you were immortal? I do not mean to be pessimistic, but eternity can be quite stressful.” 

“I h-hadn’t even thought ab-about that… is th-there a way to even f-find out?” 

“Yes. A simple blood test should yield whether or not you have retained your father's immortality, seeing as his D.N.A. is very well documented.” 

With that, we agreed to go and get me tested, heading to a lab on the spot. Kai, Jay, Nya, and Cole all waved us goodbye when Zane told them  _ ‘I can handle this matter alone, it might be that my expertise is needed.’  _ I didn’t have the guts to ask him what he meant. 

It took us about an hour on a bus to reach the nearest lab, and we waited for somewhere around fifteen minutes after that. Neither of us spoke much, I suspect Zane was just being polite, while I was way too nervous. Part of me-- like in any person, wanted to avoid death. That aspect seemed primal, almost savage and afraid of the world. My rational side seemed to take Zane’s words and run, on the other hand. While eternal life seemed promising, watching everything and everyone I know grow old and die while I hardly change? Death seemed preferable to that mess. 

So we sat in silence while they drew my blood, the only time I spoke was when the nurse asked why I was having blood drawn in the first place. If it weren’t for my faintly glowing eyes and fangs I know she would’ve given us the boot. Instead, she reluctantly signed me in, sat me down, found a vein, and drained six vials of my life's essence. Fifteen minutes was all we had to wait for her and two other nurses, plus a doctor to come in. They all looked shocked. 

“Erm, young man. How much do you know about our field of study?” 

“Not v-very much.” 

“Well, in short, you can think of us a bit like explorers. We take people's D.N.A. and map it out, looking for what sequences cause things to happen to us.” the doctor took a seat next to Zane, her nurses staying by the door. 

“When we got Garmadon’s D.N.A. some twenty years ago, and Wu a few months before that, they changed everything we knew. In them was a special sequence, one we’ve named the Golden A. See, human’s  Deoxyribonucleic acid is composed of four nucleobases. For short we call them C, G, T, and A. Garmadon and Wu, however, have D.N.A. composed of something else entirely. Again, Golden A, a special sequence that only they can have. 

More than once we’ve tried splicing the chain into frogs and rats- each time they deformed and died young. Getting to my point, I need you to answer me honestly. Are you related to either Wu or Garmadon?” 

I hesitated. The truth was simple, Garmadon was my father, an easy enough statement. Yet I still couldn’t get the words out, like not saying anything to confirm this would mean it wasn’t true. I don’t want this, I don’t want to live forever, see Cole age and weaken, or Jay haunch over and grow quiet, or Kai and Nya to extinguish, and Zane to slowly forget all that intellect. I can’t do it. Yet, my silence seemed to be enough for the doctor, as she carefully finished explaining. 

“Lloyd. We found it immediately, and… we do think you might actually be… well, immortal.” the room was too silent after that. 

Even when the doctor agreed to give Zane a moment alone with me, even when Zane sat next to me on the examination bed, all I could hear was buzzing. It felt like a movie. Like those scenes where a bomb just exploded, and the main character is breaking down, struck with stress and shock. It was Zane's hand on my own that brought me back. 

“You won’t be alone, Lloyd.” again he seemed to just know what I was hiding- like with the tooth Zane was simply too perceptive for his own good. “You won’t be alone because I’ll be there too.” 

“Wh-what..?” he couldn’t be, surely Wu had never had a child, and I know for a fact Garmadon swore off trying that again the first time he had to change a diaper. 

“I am not human. I am an android, made to resemble a human and sent to school so that I may learn the complexities of human social networks. Death is not something I will encounter, as I was designed specifically to be self-improving, to update with human technology. Thus, I am effectively immortal.” he took my hand, the one he had been holding, and grasped it with both of his, looking me square in the eyes. “And I can promise you this, Lloyd. As long as we both exist, when all our friends are gone, when you get lost or scared, or like in those motion pictures where they become, quote, insane, unquote, you will always have me.” 

Again I was at a loss, staring into his stunning blue eyes. For the first time I realized that like me, his eyes were glowing, much fainter than mine, but still alight. Hugging him was all I could do to repay that gesture. We had only known one another for less than five months, and now we had all of eternity at our disposal, and for some reason, one I can’t explain, the idea that I might have him there for all of that, it made that time seem both longer and shorter. As if just five months could both be all of time, just one second, or even only five months. 

So now I know, I’m immortal. Not only that, but I won’t be living forever alone. And above all else, Kai, Jay, Nya, and Cole will be absolutely jealous. 


End file.
